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15 playable Marvel heroes, including fan-favorites and deep cuts.
Cosmic Swapping mechanic enables flashy combo attacks between characters.
Gorgeous levels packed with Easter eggs for Marvel fans.
Dotemu / Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Tribute Games is back in their beat’em up bag and offering comic book fans the most ambitious Marvel team-up event since Avengers: Endgame with its new game, Marvel Cosmic Invasion.
Coming out of Summer Game Fest, Marvel Cosmic Invasion was one of the many titles high on my list. Tribute Games holds a dear place in this beat’em up fanatic’s heart thanks to its other fantastic titles like Scott Pilgrim EX and another personal favorite, TMNT: Shredder’s Revenge.
Many Marvel fans, myself included, have longed for a great beat’em up game featuring Marvel’s roster of heroes and villains, since it’s been a while since 1992’s X-Men: The Arcade Game.
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Tribute Games has finally filled that void with Marvel Cosmic Invasion, which proves they got the sauce when it comes to making beat’em up games. Still, they also understood the assignment when delivering a game that pays homage to an iconic era of Marvel Comics.
A Comic Book Nerd’s Dream Game
DOTEMU / Tribute Games / Marvel Cosmic Invasion
We have all seen scenarios in the comics and films where all of your favorite Marvel superheroes can unite in one video game to take on a villain that is threatening the existence of the entire universe. Still, we have yet to experience that in a video game format.
That was until Marvel Cosmic Invasion. In the game, you get to choose from 15 superheroes, including Marvel OGs like Spider-Man, Captain America, Iron Man, Black Panther, Venom, Storm, Wolverine, and Phoenix, aka Jean Grey.
But as a bonus, Tribute Games decided to go deep in the Marvel vault by making characters like Rocket Raccoon, Phyla-Vell, Nova, Cosmic Ghost Rider (Frank Castle), Silver Surfer, and Beta Ray Bill.
On paper, it looks like a random selection of characters, but I was pleasantly surprised to see how they all fit into the game’s narrative, due to some of them having to be unlocked as you progress through the game’s story.
Speaking of the story, you won’t be taking on Thanos (even though he is in the game), but the big bad in Cosmic Invasion is none other than Annihilus and his Annihilation Wave, and the heroes unite to stop him in his tracks.
Throughout the game, you encounter other known Marvel villains like Beetle, Sentinels, Master Mold, M.O.D.O.K., and more who are under the control of Annihulus thanks to Arthrosian worms.
Cosmic Swapping Adds A New Element To The Beat ‘Em Up Gameplay
DOTEMU / Tribute Games / Marvel Cosmic Invasion
At its core, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is a beat ’em up game, but Tribute Games always finds a way to add another layer to make its games more memorable.
Cosmic Invasion features a “Cosmic Swapping” feature that allows you to pull off combos by calling in the other character you selected with the press of a button. You can also do team-up attacks where both characters perform their ultimate attacks at the same time.
What I appreciate the most about the Cosmic Swapping feature is that it invites you to use your other character, rather than just sticking with your first choice until they are knocked out.
You can still play that way, but Cosmic Swapping makes you want to swap your characters in and out on the fly because it’s simply so cool, and also fun pulling off combinations.
No characters feel the same, with Tribute masterfully designing them to feel different to use, allowing for unique pairings that will result in flashy combos if you can time your swaps right.
Each level also has different challenges for you to complete, and they are tied to the characters in your roster. For example, the level involving the Sentinels, there are challenges for you to complete for Wolverine and Storm, because the Sentinels are known villains in the X-Men franchise.
It’s another feature tribute thrown in there to ensure you try out all of the characters.
Final Verdict
DOTEMU / Tribute Games / Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Marvel Cosmic Invasion doesn’t stray far from its beat ’em up DNA, but Tribute once again manages to deliver an experience that will leave you completely satisfied.
I couldn’t help but feel like I was playing an episode of my favorite Saturday morning cartoon, or the pages out of my favorite Marvel comic books.
The levels are gorgeous and chock full of easter eggs for you to find, and each character sprite from the heroes to the villains doesn’t lack in detail and jumps off the screen.
Marvel Cosmic Invasion is an absolute blast to play alone or with friends. The challenge system on the levels will also keep you coming back, making its replayability reasonably high.
Cosmic Invasion is also a fun title to pick up and play on the go. It ran perfectly on my ROG Xbox Ally, so I’m assuming it will be just as fine on the Steam Deck.
If you’re looking for another pure beat ’em up experience, Marvel Cosmic Invasion is definitely worth checking out for $29.99. If you have Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, you’re in luck because it will be available on the service on Dec.1, so make sure you assemble all your friends to take down Annihilus and his minions.
*Steam Key Provided For Review By DOTEMU & Tribue Games*
Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Source: DOTEMU / Tribute Games / Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Source: DOTEMU / Tribute Games / Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Source: DOTEMU / Tribute Games / Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Source: Dotemu / Marvel Cosmic Invasion
Trending on Billboard
It’s time to pull out those ties, suit jackets, church hats and pearls, because Nick Jonas is slipping into his Sunday Best era with a new solo album coming in 2026.
On Monday (Dec. 1), the Jonas Brothers star announced that he’s gearing up to release his first solo full-length LP in five years, Sunday Best, on Feb. 6. The 11-track project will explore Nick’s life as a husband to actress Priyanka Chopra and a dad to their daughter, Malti, according to a release.
“I’m so excited to share these new stories, candid thoughts, quiet walks home in the city, and snapshots of my life over these past few years,” the pop-rocker said in a statement. “And while this album was made over the course of the last two years, it was truly 33 years in the making.”
On Instagram, Nick shared the Sunday Best cover art, which features him looking at his reflection in a bathroom mirror while getting dressed for the day in khakis. On the wall behind him hangs a piece of construction paper with three paint handprints on it, most likely to represent the musician, his wife and their child.
Serving as Nick’s fifth solo album, Sunday Best will follow 2021’s Spaceman, which reached No. 12 on the Billboard 200. He’s released two albums with brothers Joe and Kevin since: 2023’s The Album and 2025’s Greetings From Your Hometown, both of which charted in the top 10.
As a soloist, Nick has also charted eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100 over the course of his career, including top 10 hit “Jealous.”
The singer has spent much of this year on tour with his brothers in celebration of their 20th anniversary as a band. They currently have dates scheduled through the very end of December, closing out 2025 with a performance at Hard Rock Live in Hollywood on New Year’s Eve.
See Nick’s announcement for Sunday Best below.
Trending on Billboard
Elton John & Bernie Taupin’s current Grammy nomination (best song written for visual media for “Never Too Late”) is their first as a songwriting team in 54 years. They share the nod with Brandi Carlile and Andrew Watt. The song, which was written for the documentary Elton John: Never Too Late, was nominated for an Oscar earlier this year.
It’s the first time John and Taupin have been nominated for a Grammy as a team since their music for the British-French teen romance Friends (no relation to the later smash TV series) was nominated for best original score written for a motion picture or a television special at the 1972 ceremony. (It lost to Isaac Hayes’ blockbuster Shaft soundtrack).
Amazingly, no John-Taupin collab has ever been nominated for song of the year. “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me” was nominated for record of the year at the 1975 ceremony, but not song of the year. Their Oscar-winning “(I’m Gonna) Love Me Again” from Rocketman failed to even land a nod for best song written for visual media.
Both John and Taupin have been nominated for songwriting collabs with other partners. John received four nominations for the 1995 ceremony for co-writing songs for The Lion King with Tim Rice. “Can You Feel the Love Tonight” and “Circle of Life” were nominated for both song of the year and best song written specifically for a motion picture or for television. (The songs lost to Bruce Springsteen’s haunting “Streets of Philadelphia” from Jonathan Demme’s AIDS drama Philadelphia, an outcome that John, a longtime AIDS activist, was probably more than OK with.) John and Rice won best musical show album in 2001 for composing the score for Elton John & Tim Rice’s Aida.
Taupin received a best country song nod for the 2003 ceremony for co-writing “Mendocino County Line” with Matt Serletic. Willie Nelson recorded the song with Lee Ann Womack for his 50th studio album, The Great Divide.
John broke through in 1970, but didn’t win his first Grammy until 1987, for his featured role on Dionne & Friends’ “That’s What Friends Are For.” He won his first Grammy for one of his own records in 1992 when “Basque” won best instrumental composition. He composed the instrumental for flute player James Galway.
John has won five Grammys, far fewer than you might imagine for an artist of his stature. Taupin has yet to win one. “I’ve never been a favorite of the Grammys, I have to say,” John told writer Chris Willman in a current cover story for Variety. “It’s been very rare that I’ve won anything.”
John’s husband, David Furnish, added: “Elton and Bernie have never won a Grammy — can you believe that? — as a pair of songwriters.”
John received a Grammy Legend Award in 2000 but has yet to receive a lifetime achievement award from the Recording Academy. Taupin has yet to receive a Trustees Award (the equivalent award for non-performers). They have fared better in other prestigious honors programs. They received the Songwriters Hall of Fame’s highest honor, the Johnny Mercer Award, in 2013, and are the reigning recipients of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song.
How does John and Taupin’s tepid Grammy showing compare with other legendary songwriting teams? Let’s start with the most fabled songwriting collaboration of them all – John Lennon and Paul McCartney. They received 10 Grammy nods in songwriting or composing categories.
Let’s also look at the nine collaborations that have received the Johnny Mercer Award from the SHOF. All but one has received at least one Grammy nod as a team. That one is the human hit factory known as Holland/Dozier/Holland, who collaborated on some of the biggest and best hits of the 1960s, including “Stop! In the Name of Love,” “You Can’t Hurry Love,” “I Can’t Help Myself” and “Reach Out I’ll Be There.” No Grammy nods for any of those songs? Please.
Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, like John and Taupin, received two Grammy nods as a team. Looking at the other Mercer Award recipients, and listing them in ascending order in number of nods as a team, we find Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil (four), Broadway scribes Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick (five), Burt Bacharach and Hal David (six), Broadway scribes Betty Comden and Adolph Green (eight), Kenny Gamble & Leon Huff (nine) and Marilyn and Alan Bergman (11).
This year’s other nominees for best song written for visual media are “As Alive as You Need Me to Be” from TRON:Ares (Trent Reznor & Atticus Ross), “Golden” from KPop Demon Hunters (EJAE & Mark Sonnenblick) and three songs from Sinners – “I Lied to You” (Ludwig Göransson & Raphael Saadiq), “Pale, Pale Moon” (Ludwig Göransson & Brittany Howard) and “Sinners” (Leonard Denisenko, Rodarius Green, Travis Harrington, Tarkan Kozluklu, Kyris Mingo & Darius Poviliunas). “Golden” also received a nomination for song of the year, so it’s probably the front-runner in this category.
Trending on Billboard It’s almost time to find out what artists, songs and albums dominated the 2025 Billboard year-end charts — and this year, we’re doing it live. Comedian and social superstar Druski will host the Billboard 2025 No. 1s Livestream on Tuesday, Dec. 9, starting at noon ET/9 a.m. PT, where he’ll welcome special […]
Trending on Billboard
The full list of Billboard’s 2025 year-end charts are almost here, and we’re counting down the days to their unveiling on Tuesday, Dec. 9, with a special look at select rankings in the lead-up to the big reveal — starting with two of the year-end rock charts.
On Dec. 9, hundreds of year-end charts will be posted on Billboard’s website, following the conclusion of the Billboard 2025 No. 1s Livestream, hosted by Druski, which will broadcast on the Billboard News YouTube channel and BillboardTV on Samsung TV Plus starting at noon ET/9 a.m. PT, as special surprise guests stop by to celebrate the year in chart-toppers.
To kick off our year-end charts countdown, we’re dropping the top 10 of the 2025 Top Rock & Alternative Albums and Top Rock & Alternative Songs charts below – and both are led by Billie Eilish.
She leads the former with her 2024 release Hit Me Hard and Soft, and the latter with the album’s hit single “Birds of a Feather.” Hit Me Hard and Soft debuted at No. 1 on the weekly Top Rock & Alternative Albums chart dated June 1, 2024, and hasn’t left the chart. Further, it never went lower than No. 6 during the 2025 year-end chart eligibility year (Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025). “Birds of a Feather” was equally as dominant, flying in at No. 4 on the June 1, 2024 Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart and has perched on the list ever since. It hit No. 1 in August 2024, and it never ranked lower than No. 4 during the chart year.
For the top 10 of both lists, scroll below. The full depth of both rankings (beyond the top 10 of each) will be posted Dec. 9 alongside the complete menu of Billboard’s 2025 year-end charts.
Take a look at the top 10s below.
Billboard’s year-end music charts represent aggregated metrics for each artist, title, label and music contributor on the weekly charts from Oct. 26, 2024, through Oct. 18, 2025. Rankings for Luminate-based recaps reflect equivalent album units, airplay, sales or streaming during the weeks that the entries appeared on a respective chart during the tracking year. Any activity registered before or after a title’s chart run isn’t considered in these rankings. That methodology detail, and the October-October time period, account for some of the difference between these lists and the calendar-year recaps that are independently compiled by Luminate.
2025 Year-End Top Rock & Alternative Albums: 10. Olivia Rodrigo, Guts
Source: Ethan Miller / Getty
Iggy Azalea is giving a thumbs down to the idea of hopping back in the booth.
The Australian rapper recently shared a flick on Instagram, and when a fan asked if she had signed a new record deal, she shut it down quickly: “F*ck no, but I did consider signing for weeks. I’m very sure I don’t want to come back to the music industry.”
After early success with her 2014 song Fancy, Azalea was never able to top it. The song hit No.1 on the Billboard charts and set her up to be one of the leading faces of rap coming out of Australia. Since then, The New Classic rapper has stuck to her word about staying ghost in music; her last release was The End Of An Era in 2021, and it received mixed reviews but not the same praise as her breakout track.
Iggy has also claimed that Universal Music Group owes her a hefty bag, claiming it’s “millions of dollars in back pay” in royalties. There have been no updates on whether the Fancy rapper ever collected her coins from UMG. She’s also been in the news following an awkward livestream with influencer Neon, where fans speculated she was flirting with the streamer.
On multiple occasions during the stream, she appeared to try to dance on him, adding fuel to the trolls online.
After the clips went viral, Iggy seemed to indirectly address the rumors, saying, “Y’all have dirty minds.”
Trending on Billboard Radiohead has been forced to postpone a pair of shows on their comeback tour of Europe due to illness. In a statement posted to their social channels on Monday morning (Dec. 1), the band announced that frontman Thom Yorke was suffering from an “extreme throat infection” and two upcoming shows in Copenhagen, […]
Trending on Billboard While Americans were celebrating Thanksgiving by gobbling up turkey, stuffing and more football than is absolutely necessary, Rihanna spent the holiday weekend honoring her home country of Barbados while also sneaking in a few previously unseen pregnancy bikini pics. The singer paid tribute to the Caribbean island nation where she was born […]
Trending on Billboard
WME has promoted Rob Markus to head of international for the agency’s contemporary music team, the company announced Monday (Dec. 1). In his new role, Los Angeles-based Markus will oversee all aspects of WME’s international touring and strategy for contemporary music.
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Markus, a senior partner at WME, has worked at the agency for more than 20 years. He helped build the company’s Latin music group, which boasts such stars as Danny Ocean, Gustavo Mioto, Humbe, J Balvin, Juanes, Maluma, Nathy Peluso, Paulo Londra and Pedro Sampaio. His client list also includes A Perfect Circle, Avenged Sevenfold, Depeche Mode, Kygo, Måneskin, Nine Inch Nails, Paul Anka, The Flaming Lips, The Hives, Toto and Will Smith. On the festival front, he’s been key to expanding the Lollapalooza brand into Argentina, Brazil and Chile, which are hosting Lollapalooza festivals in March.
Prior to WME, Markus ran EMI and Virgin Records in Hungary and also set up EMI Music Publishing in Eastern Europe.
“Rob understands the international touring business and its increasing complexities and importance to an artist’s career better than anyone,” said Lucy Dickins, WME’s global head of contemporary music and touring, and Kirk Sommer, global co-head of contemporary music and touring, in a joint statement. “Having lived and worked around the world, Rob possesses a deep knowledge of the nuances of the live music space in Europe, Asia, Latin America, and South America, as well as emerging tour markets like the Middle East, Africa, and India. This expansion of his role fortifies our global music presence and elevates the best-in-class services we offer our clients and partners.”
Added Markus, “I am thrilled to have the opportunity to lead WME’s international music team and look forward to growing and guiding our global roster with the same team approach that has served me well throughout my career.”
Trending on Billboard You already knew Jon Stewart could skewer bloviating politicians with effortless, cutting wit. But did you know he can also rock the house? The 63-year-old Daily Show legend proved it’s never too late to learn a new trick on Friday (Nov. 28) when his indie rock band, Church and State™️ made their […]
